


Day Twelve: Monica & Chandler

by claryherondale



Category: Friends (TV)
Genre: Aunts & Uncles, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Party, Cousins, F/M, Family Reunions, Love, Twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-13
Updated: 2016-12-13
Packaged: 2018-09-08 08:05:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8836849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/claryherondale/pseuds/claryherondale
Summary: Day 12 of My 31 Favorite ShipsErica Bing, now fifteen, rejoices in the familial love that surrounds her as her family celebrates an early Christmas party.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So I meant for this to just be Mondler fluff, but it ended up being from Erica Bing's POV and I couldn't resist bringing them all together. Sorry this is so short & poorly written. Also, that it's not centralized around Monica x Chandler.
> 
> P.S. Sorry for the extreme corniness of the last line.

“See?” Uncle Joey said as he finished with a faux magic trick. He set the cards down with a smile on his face. 

Jack and I exchanged a glance, but I managed to say, “Impressive,” and sound like I meant it. It wasn’t any secret that both of us loved Uncle Joey with all of our hearts, but he was never the brightest bulb in the box. He made up for it in many ways, though—with his kindness, his loyalty, his protectiveness, and his love. Although he had no children of his own, he cared for my twin and I like we were his. 

He loved us just as much as our mom and dad did. Since we were little, Uncle Joey lived with us in an apartment Dad tried to build (Mom ended up doing some of it herself, later calling an actual team of construction workers) over the garage. We loved having him around; he was a part of the family as much as any of the rest of us was. 

“Knock, knock,” Aunt Phoebe said as she opened the front door and came into the house with Uncle Mike. 

“Phebes, where are the kids?” asked Uncle Joey.

Uncle Mike said, “And by that, I’m assuming you mean the five dogs that Miss Consuela Banana-Hammock forced me to allow her.”

“Of course,” Uncle Joey said.

Emma came in through the already open front door, quickly followed by Ben, who had come home from Berkley for the holidays. Jack and I got up from where we were sitting and greeted Emma excitedly. Other than each other, she was our best friend.

Emma pulled me into her arms. “There’s my beautiful fifteen-year-old cousin. How are you, Erica?”

“I’m good, how are you?” 

“I’m great,” she said with a smile.

Aunt Rachel and Uncle Ross came in just slightly after them, and the entire house was filled with warmth and chatter. These people were my family, and I loved them. Mom and Dad came out of the kitchen when they heard all of the commotion, and they both greeted Aunt Rachel and Aunt Ross happily. It had been awhile since the last time we saw them—Aunt Rachel traveled a lot for her work in the fashion industry, and Uncle Ross and Emma always accompanied her. Emma was about midway through her senior year, but Uncle Ross was homeschooling her so it wasn’t very difficult for them to go wherever Aunt Rachel’s work needed them to.

As the night progressed on, I noticed just how radiant and youthful Mom and Dad looked as they were surrounded by their friends, all of whom were truly their family, our family.

Although Mom had soft wrinkles around her eyes, they were bright and blue against her skin, which had a happy glow to it. Dad never stopped smiling, cracking jokes like he did, and he unconsciously moved to compliment Mom’s actions every time she shifted her positon or walked across the room. It gave me hope for true love—everyone here did. They had all been together for so long now that I noticed it was characteristic of decade-long marriages: they subconsciously moved themselves along with their partners’.

Mom came over to Emma and me while Dad talked to Uncle Ross. 

“How are you, Emma?” she asked.

Emma smiled and said, “I’m doing really well. I’m sure you know we’re living in Italy right now, and I have met the most beautiful girl. She’s only a little bit older than me, and I know enough Italian and she knows enough English that we can communicate. We’ve been together for a little while now, and who knows? Maybe if things continue to go smoothly, I’ll move in with her and stay in Italy. It is a lovely country, after all.”

“That’s wonderful,” said Mom. “I’d love to go to a wedding in Italy. Chandler and I don’t travel too much right now—and I don’t mind that—but I would like to eventually.”

“You’ll be among the first I invite if I get engaged to her,” Emma said.

I smiled at them both while they talked and then wandered away a little bit, finding Dad. He had gone into the kitchen to grab three beers for him, Uncle Joey, and Uncle Ross.

“Dad?” I said.

He turned around with the beers in hand and said, “Yes, Erica?”

“When did you first know you love Mom?” I asked.

It was a little bit out of nowhere, but I spent a lot of time thinking about love—and with it so prevalently around me now, the question was on the forefront of my mind.

Dad smiled fondly. “I think some part of me always knew. Monica was always something special. But the first time I allowed myself to really know was one night, before the rest of the gang knew about us, when your mom made me just about the best batch of cookies she has ever made. We sat together at the counter in Joey’s apartment in the middle of the night, dunking our cookies in milk like we were children. And that’s when I knew—I wanted to be able to sit next to her, acting like kids, at midnight for the rest of my life.”

“Could you be any sappier?” I asked.

“Hey, kiddo, you asked,” he told me. 

He set the beers down and enveloped me in an embrace.

“Is this what you expected out of life?” I questioned. “Did you ever think, twenty years ago, that you would be celebrating an early Christmas with all of us? That you would have twins and Aunt Rachel and Uncle Ross would have Emma and Ben? And Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Mike would have five dogs? And Uncle Joey would be the best uncle that we could have ever asked for?”

Dad smiled at me and murmured, “Well . . . no one told me life was going to be this way.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hint for Tomorrow's Ship:  
> where rainbows end


End file.
